Careers for Music History Majors: Job Options and Descriptions

Degrees in music history typically cover various musical genres and the cultures that created them. Find out about the curricula of these programs, and learn about career options, job growth and salary info for music history graduates.

Individuals with a degree in music history can continue studies to complete a master's or doctoral degree in music history, or a master's in library science. With graduate studies, music history majors can prepare for several career options, such as being a music historian, college professor, and music librarian.

Essential Information

Music history majors can use their research, analysis and communication skills to find employment in various branches of the academic world. Because of the competitive and specialized nature of this field, most working professionals hold a graduate degree in music history. These programs offer instruction in various music genres, insight into the societies where they are common and a look at the importance of music in our culture.

Career

Music Historian

College Professor

Music Librarian

Education Requirements

Master's degree in music history

Master's or doctoral degree in music history

Master's degree in library science along with degree in music history

Projected Job Growth (2014-2024)*

2% for all historians

13% for all postsecondary instructors

2% for all librarians

Median Salary (2015)*

$55,800 for all historians

$69,400 for postsecondary history teachers

$56,880 for all librarians

Source: *U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).

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Career Options

Studying music history, also referred to as historical musicology, can lead to an array of career options. While varied, these careers require strong analytic skills and a broad understanding of musical genres and their historical contexts. Also, since most degree programs require students to study German, French, Italian or Latin, graduates might qualify for various international career opportunities.

Music Historian

Music historians spend most of their time researching and writing about their chosen topics. This generally involves questioning why music is the way it is and what it tells us about the societies that created it. Music historians present their findings at conferences, publish articles in academic journals and, at times, author books.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), employment of all historians could see a 2% increase between 2014 and 2024, and historians in general earned a median annual salary of $55,800 in 2015 (www.bls.gov). Once established as scholars in their field, music historians also might teach at the undergraduate and graduate levels.

College Professor

As college professors, music historians might teach general music courses to non-music-major students or specialized classes for music majors. Depending on the particular campus, college professors might also serve as mentors or advisors to a handful of students. Professors in this field are expected to continue their work as music historians and, as such, must continue to conduct research, present at academic conferences and produce scholarly texts.

Because of increases in college enrollment rates, the BLS predicts a 13% increase in general college teaching opportunities between 2014 and 2024. History professors earned a median salary of $69,400 per year in 2015.

Music Librarian

Music librarians perform typical librarian functions, but in a setting that focuses on music. Music librarians, for example, help library patrons find reference materials and complete research about pieces of music or composers. They might also select scores and recordings of music that their libraries carry. They then index and catalog these musical purchases.

Librarians in general earned a median salary of $56,880 in May of 2015 and were expected to see a job growth increase of 2% from 2014 to 2024, according to the BLS.

Graduate studies are required to pursue a career as a music historian, a postsecondary instructor or a music librarian. From 2014 to 2024, in this industry postsecondary instructors will enjoy the highest rate of job growth, while music historians and music librarians will see nominal job growth in their fields.